411’s Tales from The Territories Episode 8 Report: ‘WCCW: Wrestling’s Lone Star Legacy’

-Not sure if it was done on purpose but it’s November 22nd and we are off to Dallas, TX. Let’s get to it!

-Round Table: Brian Adias, Jimmy Garvin, Kevin Von Erich, David Manning, and Chavo Guerrero Jr.

-Chavo mentions he grew up in the business and wrestling has fed his family for over 85 years. They home base for WCCW was The Sportatorium. They mention the ring was hard as a rock. Manning credits WCCW for entrance music and vignettes coming to wrestling. Kevin puts over the talent and how everyone wanted to be the best. He calls his dad an honest and fair man that demanded that from others, but demanded it from himself. Garvin says Fritz was a good captain and was an old school promoter. Manning is noted for being Fritz’s right hand man. He recalls when Fritz snubbed the NWA and told them they were going out on their own.

-What separated WCCW from other territories was the talent that came through. Rude, Bundy, Dingo Warrior, Cactus Jack, and Texas Red (The Undertaker) all were created or started out in Texas. Manning talks about bringing El Santo in when he was 70 and Fritz said not let him die in the ring.

-Gentleman Chris Adams: Brian says Chris was a great worker and he liked to have people like him. They went to Mexico after a show and he and Brian are the only gringos there. They are drinking and Chris gets into an argument with some locals. One of the guys reaches for a gun and Brian ducks and sprints for the door. He gets outside and hears the bullets bouncing off the cars behind them. Brian gets back across the border first and waits for Chris in the room. As soon as Chris walks in he slaps him in the face. He told Chris there was no way you do that in another country. Brian learned that night you don’t go out drinking with Chris Adams. He hates talking about someone who is no longer here, but mentions Chris was a black-out drunk and the next morning had no idea what happened.

-The Israel Incident: Chavo brings up that WCCW was huge in Israel. For whatever reason their show was carried in Israel and it became one of the top shows in the Middle East. They joked that the one peaceful night in the Mid-East was Saturday when it was wrestling night. They do a show to capitalize on the popularity and Adams beats up a bartender. The guy tried to run so Adams hit him with a superkick that knocked the poor guy’s eye out. They are told by the promoter helping they needed to get Chris out of the country ASAP. Manning had to hide behind the counter in the hotel and search their safe to get Adams’ passport. They were afraid it might get locked down, so there was a rush to get him on a plane.

-Commercials!

-Adams gets let through so Manning ran back to his hotel and the police were waiting. He told them he had no clue where Adams was and admits it was stupid. He thinks he would still be in Israel if things had not worked out the way it did.

-Another Adams story as they did a show in San Juan and it was delayed. They made the genius decision to give a plane full of wrestlers free alcohol. They eventually cut the off and Adams doesn’t take the news very well. He started bitching at the flight attendants, so they told the pilot. He bowed up to Adams and that ended poorly for the pilot as Adams headbutted him, breaking his nose. The police were there this time and Adams got 6 months in a Federal Prison.

-Kevin was the oldest of the Von Erich brothers and is noted as the most athletic of the brothers. Brian talks about turning heel and he had to work a bunch with Kevin. The other heels laughed at whoever wrestled Kevin because of how stiff he was.

-Von Erich Tough: Manning talks about the day he met Kevin. He was a freshman at North Texas and on his first day broke all their weight room records. Kevin jokes that the more he worked on his upper body, his legs got bigger. Manning calls Kerry a workhorse and Kevin a thoroughbred. Kevin tells a story of working with Buddy Roberts and he caught him work with a foot to the face. To this day he jokes he has Buddy’s dental imprint on his foot. It split his foot open and Buddy has someone tells Kevin he doesn’t brush his teeth often. They joked with Kevin that he would need a rabies vaccine. They sewed the foot and it popped open the next day. He jokes he would have been better off being bit by a copperhead.

-Next story as Kevin has a bad tooth and is complaining to everyone about it. He got a pair of pliers from a maintenance worker and wanted David to pull the tooth, but he won’t do it. Kevin does it himself and it takes a few tries but he gets the tooth removed. Ouch! They all credit Kevin for his toughness.

-Chavo asks about the hottest angle in WCCW and Manning answers quickly: Von Erichs vs. Freebirds! Yep!

-Commercials!

-Oh wow, they show some early Freebirds footage and Hayes without facial hair is very weird. The Bird were a trio unlike any other and brought chaos and sold-out houses. Manning talks about how Fritz brought his sons out on camera as they grew up and they became part of the families in Dallas and the surrounding areas.

-The Bird House: Jimmy says they drank together and parties together. The Birds had a house and Jimmy stayed with them. They forgot the key and Terry said he had a key and kicked the door off the frame. They never fixed it and instead just propped the door up at night. They were always drinking so they kept the temperature at 68 degrees. One night Buddy celebrates a sold-out building by doing a back flip on a coffee table and then decides to set it on fire. They end up burning all the furniture in the house. Jimmy: “we had a hell of a fire.”

-They discuss Terry Gordy and they all say he was great. He was a great worker for his side and joke you didn’t want to be on the opposite of him. They have a story of Terry getting pissed at a dealership for not having his car ready. He drove the car into the place and jumped on the hood and pissed all over the floor. He bitched at everyone until they apologized and fixed his issues.

-Chavo says there is nothing on TV today that compares to Von Erichs vs. Freebirds. Manning talks about how stiff the territory was and you just had to take it or get snuffed out of the territory.

-They discuss the origins of the angle and it was devised by Manning. The Birds came in as baby faces and they knew they wanted to turn them. It all lead to Flair vs. Kerry and that night the wrestling business changed forever.

-Commercials!

-Betrayed by The Birds: It’s Flair defending the World Title against Kerry inside a steel cage. They talk about how you only saw a cage match once a year which made it a massive deal. Michael Hayes is the special ref and the idea was Michael would get too into the match and end up costing Kerry. Michael wanted Kerry to win by shenanigans, but he is too pure of heart for that. Gordy things Kerry decked Hayes, so he slams the cage door on his head. Manning thought Kerry was dead because of how hard the cage caught him. Girls in the crowd were crying as Flair escapes with his title. It set the promotion on fire and Manning thinks it was the best angle in the history of the business. Brian says he still has people coming up to him talking about The Von Erichs vs. The Freebirds.

-Commercials!

-Gorgeous, Sunshine and Precious: Chavo mentions Jimmy was one of the first ones to come out with a valet. He talks about working in Florida and Ernie Ladd told him he needed a gimmick. He decided to update Gorgeous George for the 80s and got his cousin to be Sunshine. They all agree she was a natural and they talk about the angle where David gave Sunshine a spanking. Jimmy mentions Sunshine and Buddy would stay up all night drinking Jack and he worried about her. He knew he was going to replace her with his real-life wife, Patty. His idea was to call her Precious and make her the valet of Sunshine. It became a soap opera and they worked themselves into a shoot. They two women ended up feuding and Garvin said he would cringe at how hard they would hit each other. There was serious heat between the two. Jimmy says the character was hard to keep up with and he is happy he is gone today.

-Commercials!

-Next week Jim Crockett Promotions! Morton, Anderson, Baby Doll, Cornette! OH YEAH!

-Manning Saves The Day: Chavo talks about learning the ropes in the early days and having to tear down the ring and other grunt work. Manning has a story about someone stealing the money at a show and Manning pulls out a gun. The guy tries to run across a bridge so Manning shoots four times before the gun won’t shoot anymore. He gives chase and the guy hides behind a dirt pile. Manning catches up and splits his head open with the gun. The police come and need a statement. The story got around that Manning shot the guy in the face, but he admits he only shoot 4 times in the air.

-They talk legacy and Manning says they had live superheroes much like Marvel has now. They all think they were there for the fans and put in the time to make the fans love them. Jimmy says it is hard to explain and even more words won’t do justice to what they got to do in WCCW. He jokes he is just glad to be alive because he shouldn’t be. Kevin says it is always the people you remember and when his family suffered everyone suffered with them. It was a labor of love.

-Solid episode with a few stories that have been shared previously. I enjoyed they didn’t need to go into the tragedy stuff and just stuck with some fun stories. We always focus on the tragedies in the promotion, so it was nice to hear these guys laugh and tell some lighter stories. I continue to enjoy this series and next week with JCP should be a good one. Thanks for reading!